Dr. Ernest S. F. Evans, D.D.S.

Ernest Stills Francis Evans, Sr., D.D.S departed this life on Sunday, February 21, 2016. Born in Shreveport, Louisiana on February 15, 1925, he was the only child of Sam and Willie L. Evans. Ernest received his formal education, elementary and high school, in Shreveport, Louisiana. After finishing high school with honors, Ernest entered Tuskegee Institute as a work-study student for three years. Two years after the beginning of World War II, Ernest left Tuskegee Institute to work in the Kaiser Shipyard in Vancouver, Washington. In 1949, Ernest returned home to Shreveport, Louisiana where he taught Science, Mathematics and Chemistry, served as Assistant Principal, chaired the Science and Mathematics Department, and coached basketball and track for both girls and boys. During this time, he married his college sweetheart, and they became the parents of two children. At the end of this decade in the classroom, Ernest resigned from teaching and returned to school attending Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee where he received his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in 1966. Upon graduation, he and his family relocated to Los Angeles. Here in Los Angeles, over the span of 40 years, Ernest balanced a thriving General Dentistry practice with participation and leadership roles in organized dentistry at the local, state, and national levels. These organizations included: Angel City Dental Society, California National Dental Association, National Dental Association, California Academy of General Dentistry, Academy of General Dentistry, Los Angeles Dental Society, California Dental Association, American Dental Association, California Chapter of the International College of Dentistry, and International College of Dentistry, California Chapter of The American College of Dentistry. Among the awards Ernest received were: The Fellow and Master of the Academy of General Dentistry; the Fellow of the American College of Dentistry; the Fellow of the International College of Dentistry; and the Angel Award from the Angel City Dental Society. Community involvement and giving back were central to his well-lived life to include active roles in the Los Angeles Urban League, the Boy Scout Council of America and the Los Angeles Chapter of the NAACP (i.e., Life Member) and 45(+) years member of St. Bernadette Catholic Church where he served as Eucharistic Minister and usher, and 30+) years of continuous affiliation with the Delta Sigma Theta Head Start State Preschool Program serving as Dental Consultant and Chairperson of the Service Advisory Board from 1992 to 2003. Also, hobbies and other interests included Black History; a love of Jazz, sports – especially the NCAA Tournaments, and slow-cooked BBQ-ing. Ernest will be greatly missed by the ones who loved him. He devoted himself to his family; he valued and nourished his friendships; and, lived by the motto of treating others as he would like to be treated. Ernest leaves to mourn his transition, his wife of 65 years: Bernice M. Evans, his children: Dawn Thérèse (“DT”) Evans and Ernest S.F. Evans, Jr.; sister in-law: Alma Lemmon; nephew-in-law: Archimedes Lemmon and several grand-nieces and grand-nephews, relatives and friends.